Queen Elizabeth's Drop Scones Recipe (2024)

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A recipe given to President Eisenhower by Queen Elizabeth II for drop scones, also known as Scottish pancakes.

Elise Bauer

Elise founded Simply Recipes in 2003 and led the site until 2019. She has an MA in Food Research from Stanford University.

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Updated February 18, 2022

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Queen Elizabeth's Drop Scones Recipe (3)

In honor of all things Royal, we present to you a recipe for drop scones, otherwise known as "Scotch pancakes", that Queen Elizabeth made for President Dwight Eisenhower on the occasion of his visit to Balmoral castle in 1959.

According to the National Archives, the Queen prepared drop scones for the President, using a family recipe. Later she sent the President a letter and enclosed the recipe, with annotations and a suggestion to use treacle in place of the caster sugar.

When I first started testing this recipe, I couldn't understand why the dough was more of a pancake batter, and not "scone-like" as I had imagined. Here in the states we think of drop scones like drop biscuits, instead of cutting out triangular shape scones for baking, we drop the dough from a spoon onto the baking pan.

But "drop scones" in parts of the UK, in particular Scotland, where Balmoral castle is situated, are more like American pancakes than typical scones. Drop scones are thicker than American pancakes, and a little smaller.

Queen Elizabeth's Drop Scones Recipe (4)

If you read the Queen's recipe in the image above, note the use of "teacups" as measurements for flour and milk. Before Fanny Farmer we used teacups for measures as well.

To figure out how much a typical teacup holds, I tested two teacups, an English made one, and a French limoge. Oddly, when I filled each (completely different shape) tea cup with flour and weighed them, the result for each was exactly 100 grams.

By volume, the teacups were each 3/4 of an American standard cup. So "4 teacups" would be 3 American cups, and "2 teacups" would be 1 1/2 cups.

European butter has a much higher fat content than standard American butter, so if you have European butter, you may want to use it, to more closely replicate what the Queen was making.

Most recipes for drop scones I found add a little salt. I don't know if the Queen used salted butter or not. Her recipe doesn't call for it, but since I use unsalted butter, I added a little salt to the batter.

A note on the cream of tartar. We happen to have some in our pantry, but many people don't. Cream of tartar is a dry acid. It combines with the alkaline baking soda to create the leavening in the scones.

Baking powder is just the combination of baking soda and cream of tartar with some corn starch thrown in, so if you don't have cream of tartar, you can substitute both the baking soda and the cream of tartar with baking powder.

Queen Elizabeth's Drop Scones

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time15 mins

Ingredients

3 cups (400g) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/4 cup superfine sugar, or heaping 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) whole milk (and maybe a little more if needed)
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Method

Mix the dry ingredients:

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in a large bowl.
Mix the wet ingredients:

In a separate medium sized bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar. Then whisk in most of the milk.
Make the batter:

Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the milk egg mixture. Whisk until smooth, adding more milk until you get the right consistency - thin enough to spread on the pan, but not so thin as to run. Fold in the melted butter.
Cook the drop scones:

Heat a griddle or large cast iron pan on medium to medium low heat. Coat the pan with a little butter, spreading it with a folded over paper towel. Drop large spoonfuls of batter on the griddle to form pancakes. When bubbles start to appear on the surface (after 2 to 3 minutes), use a metal spatula to flip the pancakes over. Cook for another minute, until lightly browned. Remove to a plate and cover with a clean tea towel to keep warm while you cook the rest of the drop scones.
Serve with butter, jam, or golden syrup (Americans sub maple syrup).

Simple Tip!

An extra note here, when I first started playing with the recipe, I didn't realize it was for what are essentially pancakes. I was expecting more traditional scones, and therefore kept working at the recipe until I got them. I did manage to pull a more traditional scone out of the Queen's recipe, just by doing a couple of things. I reduced the milk to 1 cup. I mixed the ingredients until they just came together as a sticky, shaggy dough. I used heaping tablespoons of European butter. With this mixture you can make drop biscuits. Just measure out 1/4-cup scoops of the batter onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 400°F for 12-14 minutes, until nicely browned on top. Serve warm with butter and jam.

Scones
Baking

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
140	Calories
3g	Fat
24g	Carbs
4g	Protein

Show Full Nutrition Label

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 16
Amount per serving
Calories	140
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 3g	4%
Saturated Fat 2g	8%
Cholesterol 29mg	10%
Sodium 221mg	10%
Total Carbohydrate 24g	9%
Dietary Fiber 1g	2%
Total Sugars 4g
Protein 4g
Vitamin C 0mg	0%
Calcium 33mg	3%
Iron 1mg	7%
Potassium 158mg	3%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.